Tens of thousands of South Yemenis rally in Yemen's Aden to demand independence

YNNMonday, April 18th 2016 06:22 PM

A participator in a rally in South Yemen holding a picture of former South Yemen's flag and words reading "No for unity, Yes for disassembling the unity [between south and north Yemens] YNN, 18/04/2016

Tens of thousands of south Yemenis rallied a protest on Sunday and Monday under the name of "Independence is our choice," one day prior to peace talks planned to take place in Kuwait.

The protest comes to draw your attention of the peace talk's parties and the international powers to the independence calls in southern Yemen.

The Yemeni government is planned to hold peace talks with the rebels in Kuwait on Monday in an attempt to end the year-long conflict.

The participators who have come from different parts of southern Yemen raised flags of the former South Yemen (1967 – 1990), pictures of southern leaders in exile, as well as people killed in previous protests and others in the ongoing war.

Yemeni government forces and militias of the Popular Southern Resistance tackled the responsibility of securing the protest, while units of newly-trained soldiers participated in a military parade in the middle of the Orod square, where the protest is staged.

Since 2007, the Southern Movement has been calling for smooth independence for the former People's Democratic Republic of Yemen that merged into a unity with its northern neighbor North Yemen in 1990, before the civil war broke out between the south and the north in 1994.

The Southern Movement is an umbrella name for a number of factions that most of them demand secession.